Sharon, our hearts go out to you during this unimaginably difficult time.

A few hours after her son-in-law, Simon Monjack, returned from the hospital, Brittany Murphy‘s mother, Sharon, also came back to the couple’s West Hollywood home, where she joined other family members and was spotted looking completely devastated.

“The family is very distraught,” Ed Winter, the assistant chief coroner for L.A. County, told HollywoodLife.com on Dec. 20. “They are asking for privacy and there will be no spokesperson. No one will be coming out tonight to speak [to media].”

Winter tells us that authorities have launched a death investigation and the next step will be to perform an autopsy on Brittany, even though Simon strangely did not want one, according to TMZ. We’re glad the coroner will be going through with it; we can’t imagine what mom wouldn’t want to find out why she lost her daughter at such a young age.

Winter added the coroner’s office is aware that the actress had a previous “medical history,” though he declined to specify what exactly they knew. Along with the autopsy, he says toxicology tests will be performed, but Brittany’s family and the public probably won’t be getting answers anytime soon. The entire investigation, he says, may take up to six weeks.